Drawing upon decades of experience, RAND provides research services, systematic analysis, and innovative thinking to a global clientele that includes government agencies, foundations, and private-sector firms.

The Pardee RAND Graduate School (PRGS.edu) is the largest public policy Ph.D. program in the nation and the only program based at an independent public policy research organization—the RAND Corporation.

Summary Only

This working paper surveys existing research and the general state of knowledge on the impact of regulation and legislation on small business. It focuses on laws and regulations in four key regulatory areas: corporate securities, environmental protection, employment, and health insurance. In each of these areas, the review summarizes the regulatory environment, discusses the impact of the regulatory environment on small business and highlights issues in need of further research. In so doing, the review explores the ways small businesses and entrepreneurs behave differently from large businesses; the ways that policymakers, customers, employees and other organizations treat small businesses differently from larger businesses; and how these differences relate to the policy rationales that underlie regulation and the use of the tort system. A primary aim of this review is to identify additional research that would assist regulators, courts, legislatures, and others in balancing competing policy objectives. The report concludes with suggestions for future research.

Research conducted by

The research described in this report was conducted by the Kauffman-RAND Center for the Study of Small Business and Regulation which is housed within the RAND Institute for Civil Justice.

This report is part of the RAND Corporation working paper series. RAND working papers are intended to share researchers' latest findings and to solicit informal peer review. They have been approved for circulation by RAND but may not have been formally edited or peer reviewed.

Permission is given to duplicate this electronic document for personal use only, as long as it is unaltered and complete. Copies may not be duplicated for commercial purposes. Unauthorized posting of RAND PDFs to a non-RAND Web site is prohibited. RAND PDFs are protected under copyright law. For information on reprint and linking permissions, please visit the RAND Permissions page.

The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.

The RAND Corporation is a research organization that develops solutions to public policy challenges to help make communities throughout the world safer and more secure, healthier and more prosperous. RAND is nonprofit, nonpartisan, and committed to the public interest.